Wire display racks, stands or merchandisers of the free standing type are commonplace in the marketing of many small products that are stored or displayed in groups, where the desired product can be taken individually as needed from the displayed group by the purchaser. Typically, these free standing merchandisers have a base supporting an upstanding shaft which has mounted thereon a circular ring-shaped support to which are detachably connected a number of basket-like carriers. The products, e.g. paperback books, are stacked in the carrier for perusal by customers. Such a merchandiser must be rigid and sturdy when set up, in order to support the displayed products safely and attractively. The merchandiser should also be fabricated and assembled without the use of tools or complex procedures. The displayed products must be easily removed from the carriers without subjecting the product or the purchaser to any rough or sharp edges or the like which might damage the product or injure the purchaser. Still further, the merchandiser should be capable of being readily set up or assembled, and knocked down or disassembled to provide for a versatile marketing tool that can be collapsed and compactly stored when not needed but yet can be easily used at varying locations. The manufacturing cost must be low.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,744 illustrates a merchandiser of this general kind but which has been found to have a number of shortcomings. One noted shortcoming exhibited in the patented merchandiser is that the carriers are connected to the ring-shaped support by C-shaped hooks having sharp or raw exposed edges against which the rearward most held product is typically pressed, which edges are likely to damage the product or further are likely to scrape or injure the purchaser attempting to remove the product from the merchandiser. Secondly, these small C-shaped hooks are difficult to fabricate accurately enough to maintain the desired angle of inclination of the carrier to the support.